((Sorry for the super late update, in the process of moving. Having said that, I might not be able to update for a week or two. Hopefully everything works out.

Warning: Mentions and implied intentions of rape. But, not much))

"Wha-what?" Kris asked with a huge exhale of her held breath.

"How sweet!" Lindsay quickly grabbed Kris and brought her in close for a hug. "You're the second person to have such a wonderful love!" Her tone was light and sincere. The sudden embrace was awkward itself, but her body was abnormally warm. It seemed like every part of her that touch her was hot water. With the hot hug from Lindsay, Kris stopped shivering and began to regain her regular body temperature. Why was her body so physically hot?

"I-I-" she tried to understand what was happening but it confused her. With a petrified face, Kris glanced to Jenny and Emily next to her. Emily had finally stopped crying and stared aimlessly in the distance. Her small eyes were puffy and red from her endless stream of tears. Jenny's disgust and dislike for Lindsay was plastered all over her cheeks and colored her eyes. A pinched brow and frown was enough for anyone to see that she did not want to near this weird girl any longer. Kris didn't blame her. Something was definitely off about this girl; besides the fact that she had Qlifhat's book.

It felt an eternity by the time Kris was released from this woman. She stared into Kris' eyes with bright and childlike wonder; it reminded her of Marissa.

"No darkness in there," she whispered in self satisfaction.

"But I-"

Jenny had interrupted Kris with an outburst in Spanish. She spoke so fast Kris couldn't even guess what she was talking about.

Still smiling, Lindsay turned towards Jenny, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish. What did you say-"

"I want to leave!" Jenny snapped. "I don't know what you or those dumb asses out there want, but I want to go home!" She shouted every word.

"Oh dear," Lindsay lightly sighed and used both hands to comfort Jenny, "I would love to let you go, but I've made a deal with those men."

"Don't touch me, puta," she snarled as a wispy line of breath lifted from her grinned teeth.

"What deal?" Emily chimed in.

Gingerly moving her hands from Jenny, Lindsay took a moment to study each of the three women in front of her. "I'm sorry, truly I am. However, I do not have to authority to release you." She stepped In between Kris and Jenny and pounded on the freezer door.

In unison, the bound women turned around and silently watched Lindsay waited with her back towards them. What the hell is going on? Why didn't she see my darkness? How could she not know? While Jenny was glaring daggers at their playfully chipper hostess and Emily was constantly being brought back to her deep thoughts, Kris frantically wondered her fate. Or, does she know I'm the Shadow Master and refuses to share that knowledge? There was a definite thud in response to Lindsay's pattern of knocks. What is her gain? What does she want?

"Please forgive me," whipping her long hair around she faced the three prisoners, "But none of you are who I'm looking for. Now, the men have you."

"Have us?" Jenny questioned with a heavy laced attitude. "What does that mean?"

There was a loud click and the faint sound of metal scraping metal caused all three girls to cringe. Behind Lindsay, the solid door was pulled open and a rush of chilled air escaped. The man who defended Kris from Richard had the handle in his hand; beyond him, four men, including Dick himself, were waiting. Although they all had weapons in their hands, Kris could tell that by their postures and relaxed expressions that they no longer felt the women as threats. Why did they ever think of us as threats? What could three, bound girls do to this militia?

"I'm afraid that is this the last time I'll be seeing you all," Lindsay sighed and stepped back, to stay out of the way of the makeshift pathway out of the freezer. "It was a pleasure to meet you all. However, a deal is a deal." She lifted her hand to gesture the prisoners out of her arctic office.

Before Jenny could demand a more elaborate explanation, the man holding the door open nodded to the prisoners and spoke, "C'mon. Out."

For an unknown reason, Emily listened. She stepped forward and out of the walk-in cooler.

"Emily!" Jenny gasped as one of the men grabbed her by the forearm and yanked her. Defensively, the Hispanic woman charged after her friend; in a futile attempt, she tried to jab her shoulder into the man keeping the vice grip on Emily. Two men jumped in front of her and held her back, restraining her away from her friend. Kris hesitated before joining her friends; she took one last look at Lindsay. Her wide eyes were depressed with a hint of hopefulness. What the hell are you planning?

"I said, out!" the man ordered as he clutched Kris' arms. He pulled her out and tossed her in the fray of Jenny trying to free herself and Emily blankly staring into nothing.

Something's wrong.

Dick had grabbed Kris extra tight as the first man began to close the freezer with Lindsay still inside. Ignoring Richard's killer grip, Kris felt herself glance over her shoulder back into the freezer. Lindsay was standing sideways with a hand extended to the hanging chandelier. There was a quick flash of light and all the tiny lights immediately faded off. Just before the door was forced shut, Lindsay had met Kris' gaze. What The Shadow Stranger saw gave her mixed emotions. The bouncing, cheerful eyes belonging to Lindsay were lit up; illuminating around her face and glowing brightly, her eyes were completely yellow. Those eyes. It was a short moment, but Kris knew what she saw before the freezer door closed.

That doesn't make sense; if she's the next Shadow Master, shouldn't her eyes be black?

A menacing chuckle emitted from Dick, bringing Kris back to her current situation. "Look who passed the test," he leaned in close and gave an unsettling smile.

The impending fear of her death was fleeting; or, at least it was fleeting enough for Kris to focus on the men around the room and her struggling friends. I have to get them out of here. At the snap of her metaphoric fingers, her priority switched from herself to rescuing her friends.

"We're going to have some fun," Dick said while yanking her away from the freezer. Emily and Jenny were being forced back behind the plastic flaps and out of her sight.

"Damn straight we are," Kris bared her teeth as Richard led her behind her friends. I'm not playing around anymore. She could hear Jenny shouting out in Spanish, probably demanding her freedom. In between her outbursts, Emily's pitiful quiet cries could vaguely be heard.

"The hell you say?" Again, Richard shoved her against the wall with his gut and looked down to her. "You want a matching cut on the other side?" He pressed the blade to her clean cheek and lightly applied pressure; trying to intimidate her. There was no way this fat man was going to scare her.

"Do it," she began her warning, "And you will be faced with a demon," Kris hissed the last word.

It was a split second decision, but Kris realized that she was putting her own needs in front of her friends'. This entire time, she could have easily helped them escape from this militia but because of her promise to Bucky, she didn't. Without a second thought or any regrets, and regardless of Lindsay's search for her, Casey called upon her shadows. If Lindsay was going to kill her, then she would rather die helping Jenny and Emily than allowing the men "have them." From her core, Casey blinked and coated her green eyes with darkness as pure as night.

Dick was close enough to see the sudden change and flinched. There was slight confusion in his face. Not wanting to stay inches from her face, Dick stepped away from her and brought his knife away from her cheek. "What the hell-" he gasped in bewilderment.

"I warned you," Casey replied darkly. She gently pushed herself off of the wall and glared at Richard; she could just see him tense up in fright. Good, get scared. Because you pissed off the wrong girl.

Once her shadows were back, she couldn't resist but to "put him in his place," just like he did to her. She used her black eyes to hold his attention while she pressed her fingers to the wall. Willing the shadows to circle around Dick, Casey smiled wildly at him. She didn't have a plan, but now that she centered her inner darkness, and accepted her inevitable death from her usurper, Casey simply improvised.

"Knock that shit out!" He lunged at her; but she was ready. Behind Richard, a large black hand created from her shade sprang out. It wrapped its extended fingers around his body to prevent him from hurting her. Within a second, Casey willed the shadow hand to drag him into the source and into the darkness. It happened so fast, Dick didn't have time to scream in terror, but Casey could feel his heart running a marathon in his chest. The shadow hand brought him through the wall; Bucky's words echoed in her mind, "Don't hurt them." Rather than leaving Dick to the darkness, Casey opened a portal. Still in control of the shadow hand, she used a great force to throw him out of the portal and out of the building.

Shutting the portal, and no longer needing the shadow hand, Casey exhaled smoothly and willed a smaller shade behind her. Easily, she slipped through the zip tie. Her first instinct was to touch her chilled cheek wound; it was still damp from the blood and tender.

Down the softly lit hallway, she heard Jenny shout out in Spanish. "Don't you fucking touch her!" She added an insult in her native tongue before there was a loud crack only made from skin hitting skin. Someone hit her. You son of a bitch. Casey disregarded Lindsay's chamber and bolted down the hallway with no weapon and no plan. Of course, she had her shadows. As she sprinted down the hallway, she remembered that she promised Bucky not to use them; but this was an emergency. He can be mad all he wants; they need me!

She barged into the loading dock and found two groups of men; one group of five or more wrestling with Jenny, trying to hold her kicking legs still while three men pinned Emily to the ground. Since Jenny was actually putting up a fight, Casey turned towards the three men at Emily. Cocking her head, she rushed to the one on top of her; growling and baring her teeth as if she was an animal, Casey felt a surge of power fuel her rage. It felt as though her shadows wanted her to have superhuman strength. Taking a page from Bucky's book, she used all of her weight plus the extra push from her shadows to tackle the man off of her. They rolled a few paces, but Casey wasn't done. Keeping her black eyes hidden from her tearful friend, Casey manipulated the shadows carefully to hide them from both Emily and Jenny's view. Forcing a strong kangaroo kick off, Casey used her shadows to help her fling the man into the far wall.

Without missing a beat, Casey bounced up and rounded back to the two men holding Emily down. Thankfully, Emily was crying and tightly squeezing her eyes shut. Keep them closed! Casey ordered in her head; if neither Emily or Jenny see what she's doing with her shadows, then Bucky couldn't be mad, right?

"We got a runner!" One of the men wrestling with Jenny called out; his tone was joyful and sinisterly fun. There was a chorus of cheers from the majority of the men. If they saw her eyes or what she did to their comrade, they would not be cheering.

"No," she corrected them, "You got a monster."

Realizing that Jenny's group didn't hear her, Casey faced back to the two men holding Emily. Utilizing the darkness in her eyes, she felt another surge of adrenaline. She felt unstoppable. It wasn't more than a handful of steps before she was at Emily's side. A quick check to ensure her eyes were still shut, Casey flung her arm away; the shadow underneath one of the men sprang up and slammed against the stacked wooden pallets. Keeping her momentum, she spun around and aimed her foot to the last man by Emily.

He had enough time to jump up and release Emily, but that didn't throw off Casey at all. Around her extended foot, a black aura lingered and was the source of her added force. Although the man had moved back, it seemed to be pointless; all it changed was where her heavy foot smashed into. Originally, she wanted to hit his head, but the shadows helped her crack into his stomach. Once her tipped foot made contact, she followed through and sent the man to the side.

Standing over Emily in a protective stance, Casey determined that all three of the men were knocked out or knew better than to prolong her rage. Once Emily was freed from the men, she curled into a ball and wept silently. Her hair was long enough to shield her face from Casey's crazed face and black eyes.

She had to admit, it felt good to use her shadows again. It had been too long and now she had a new trick.

On the other side of the room, one of the men overpowering Jenny noticed that Emily's steady outright cried died away and the constant snickers from his comrades had ceased. He glanced back out of curiosity as she Casey turned to the larger group. The man raised an eyebrow and shouted, "Hey! What the hell is this?!" His loud voice carried over Jenny's grunts of struggle and altered the rest of the men's attention; all eyes were on Casey. "She got loose!" A different man stated the obvious. "Get her before she runs away!" A third man commanded.

"Release her-" Casey was going to give them the option of letting Jenny go, but one of men, smaller and more easily scared than the rest, had pointed a handgun at her and pulled the trigger. She was cut off by the recognizable noise as was the remaining men by Jenny.

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at Casey in order to find where the bullet had pierced her. She turned her head and glared at the shaking man, gun still in hand.

"Jesus, Mark!" a man sounded from behind Jenny, "You fucking shot her!"

"Don't you see her eyes!" He defended himself while lowering the gun, "You all remember what she said, 'White in face, black in eyes. Pure in form, and darkest in heart!' Th-that's what she said! To kill her on site!" Mark's words were hesitant and unsure.

Another short pause for the men surrounding Jenny to study Casey; she didn't mind these stalls, it gave her a chance to think about how to lure them away from Jenny. Emily didn't see her shadows, now she had to make sure Jenny didn't.

"Holy shit," she heard a man whisper in astonishment, "It's her."

"Let us go, and no one else will get hurt," Casey couldn't imagine her fighting six men with a happy ending. Better to finish this stand off without any more injuries and lessen the risk of Jenny seeing her shadows.

"Get Lindsay," a man commanded to Mark.

The shaky man with a gun glanced at Casey, as if he needed her permission to leave.

"Don't," she said in the most authoritative tone.

Thankfully, Mark didn't move.

"Release her," Casey continued her demanding voice. Some of the men shifted uneasily, but they didn't unhand Jenny. "Now!" she shouted at them. All of them flinched terribly and immediately let their hands drop from Jenny.

Muttering Spanish swear words or prayers, she straightened herself and hurried past all of the men. As Jenny rushed to Casey, they shared a moment of intense staring; tears were already forming in her eyes from fear of being taken advantage of, but was she afraid of her? Casey was like this for her, to save her and Emily. She had to. It was the only way. Behind her stern face, Casey's heart stung with the look Jenny gave her. Please don't hate me. Don't fear me. I'm still Kris, your friend.

Casey kept a piercing glare at the group of men still watching the girls intently as Jenny knelt down and coaxed Emily to get up. The Shadow Stranger gave them ample time to get her up before she moved again, this time towards the loading ledge. The garage was shut, but a quick examine provided that there wasn't anything that bolted it down. As Jenny carried Emily, Casey called upon her shadows one more time to boost her strength in order to push the garage door upward. Dull, lazy light entered the loading dock around the moving van. Jenny and Emily winced at the sudden increase of illumination but they eased themselves out. Again, Casey played the role of a guard dog as the two clambered out of the loading dock. She heard her friends shuffle a little and then a short lived silence.

"Kristen," Jenny called back with Emily hanging from her shoulder, "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Something's wrong. She knew there was something not being seen here. Something with Lindsay. Her eyes were glowing yellow. She had my book and I couldn't read it. But I can still move the shadows, what am I missing? The Shadow Stranger had to know. And besides her nagging feeling, there was no guarantee that the men wouldn't run to Lindsay the moment they had the chance. That would put them in greater risk. No, I have to stay and make sure they don't follow them back to the camp. I need to lure them away.

One last look down at her friends, with a warm smile and soft face, Kris lightly shook her head. "Get her back to Barnett. He'll want to see her. And make sure you see Anthony and Gracia."

"No, you need to come-" Jenny began to argue.

"I'll be fine-"

"What do I tell Nathan?" She tried to use a sensitive approach to get Kris to leave with them. Smart move, it almost worked.

However, her quick wit helped her, "Tell him my heart belongs to Bucky."

Without another word, Kris grabbed the garage door and slammed it shut. Just get back to the camp safely. Through the steel stutters, she was able to vaguely hear their footsteps as they walked away. Now, all she had to do was stall them until Jenny got far enough away where the looters couldn't find them.

The Shadow Stranger turned on her heels to face the group of men. To her surprise, at the threshold leading into the hallway to the freezer, a newcomer stood. Dropped jaw, wide eyes, and slouched shoulders, Lindsay stared at Casey. Shit, I was hoping for more time!

"I heard a gunshot," Lindsay felt it necessary to explain herself, "I was worried." Slowly and with her long hair gently sweeping behind her back, she stepped onto the loading dock. With the biggest eyes Casey had ever seen, her hostess seemed infatuated by Casey's shadows. All The Shadow Stranger could do was tighten her stance and straighten her shoulders; what this insane woman was thinking, it wasn't going to be pleasant. "How did you do that?"

The group of men had backed away from both women; their backs were towards the wall and each would give an occasional glance to the hallway to make a run for freedom. Since her eyes were black, she was able to alternate from watching Lindsay and observing the men's nervous twitches. It was slightly amusing to her, however she didn't get a decent chance to appreciate their tweaks before Lindsay's voice broke the suspenseful silence.

"Witch!" Casey snapped to pay attention but it seemed to pleased Lindsay very little. "When I felt your heart, there was no darkness. Even took a longer look to make sure. But, here you are. Right under my nose. So, how did you mask the evil that fills your heart?"

Casey held her guard up as she half shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar!"

Faster than she could register, Lindsay threw up a stiff arm and pointed viciously at her. The hostess' eyes flashed bright yellow and the tips of her long brown hair lifted up lazily. All around the loading dock, there was a stutter of light among all of the bulbs. Casey didn't have time to react accordingly; so she was hit with a brute force. Erupting from Lindsay's fingertips, a flash of electricity shot out and zigzagged across the open floor. Being controlled by the awkwardly happy woman, the sudden bolt immediately struck Casey; by the immense speed, and the dropped guard, The Shadow Stranger was shot back and slammed into the garage door. Her body left a large dent when she slid down the unhindered parts. Casey's fingers and ankles twitched lightly with the surge of electricity that had passed through her body. It was twelve times worse than those SHIELD and HYDRA devices. But, as soon as the bolt hit her, it was gone. Her slightly spastic limbs were the only visible signs of her near execution. With chattering teeth and tense muscles, Casey forced her gaze at Lindsay. What the hell is this?

"Lying is a sin," she straightened herself and patted down her frizzy hair. "Especially in the eyes of our Lord."

"You're fucking crazy," Casey growled out when she had control over her trembling lips.

"He also frowns upon profanity," she explained.

"That's a fucking shame," underneath her eye there was a twitch of anger, not from the bolt.

"You really need to learn some manners."

"You need to go piss off."

Casey was no longer getting pleasure from talking to this insane woman. Placing her hand on the garage door, she willed a portal open behind her. She clambered backward until she was completely. Lindsay had shouted for her to stop, but of course, she wasn't going to take orders from her. There was a scurry from the group of men to retrieve their weapons; Mark had even shot at her again. Thank God he was a terrible shot. What they didn't know was that Casey wasn't leaving their hideout; she opened the portal back into the freezer.

When she staggered in, she immediately shut it. Casey remembered the simple layout to Lindsay's arctic office and rushed to the huge armchair at the far end. With a stuttering breath, she grabbed the thickly bond book and willed another portal. Now, she was leaving, with her book and back onto the streets. Realistically, it was a stupid idea; the men and Lindsay could hunt her down if she exposed herself. But, her next goal was to get Emily and Jenny back to their camp safely. And maybe get back to Bucky. At least have her friends deliver the message. It would be a good way to die; protecting her friends. In the back of her mind, Casey had no idea she could control electricity too.